Possum and Sweet Potatoes

Pictured is a blessed and talented resident of the nursing home I visited in Meridian, MS

I hope that the title of this blog post got your attention the same way it got mine.... because after those words "possum and sweet potatoes" were said, a blessing followed. I am hoping to pass along that blessing now.

I had the wonderful opportunity to volunteer my photography skills at a relay for life fund raiser at a nursing home in Meridian, MS. I have always loved nursing homes and the way some of our older generation that you experience at these places seem to have a return to innocence as they age. But along with that innocence, there is knowledge and experience and an acceptance of things of this world and beyond. If you really open your heart to some of these people, you might just get an unexpected blessing.

This sweet lady pictured above rolled into the room where I was set up to do pictures while I was on a break. I sat at one table as she began talking to a lady that was helping me for the day at another table. She began to talk about her life. She said she was born in 1921 and that she married young. She went on to talk about her life and I was listening quietly, enjoying her walk down memory lane until she said this "I couldn't keep anything down when I was pregnant with my first child. The only thing I wanted to eat was..... what do you call it?.... oh yeah, possum and sweet potatoes." I couldn't contain my laughter at this odd (to me) menu. My laugh is always loud and she heard it and looked me directly in the eye and she knew she had my attention as she continued her stories. We eventually ended up in the room with just the two of us. Her joy was contagious to me... this 93 year old seemed like a child playing and giggling and just enjoying her life... at the same time confined to wheel chair and with probably a few more stories in the pile than she wished to recall. I thought of my own life, I thought of my complaints about it... I realized that, at times, I take it all for granted. I totally admired this woman.

Then the biggest blessing happens.... she rolls over to a piano and starts to play... I insist I move the bench out of the way so she can get closer to the keys but she shoos me away insisting that she can play fine just as it is.... and she does... with no sheet music in sight this beautiful woman with beautifully wrinkled and aged fingers starts to play and does not miss a single note of the classic hymn In The Garden. Music always speaks to me on a deeper level and this was no exception. A few more people entered the room while she played and some even started to sing.... I just listened. I wanted to learn more about that song... was it her favorite?... had she known it all her life?... what was that song really about and who wrote it. When she finished, I asked her if she played piano at her church when she was younger and she replied "No, they like for you to read music when you play for church.... I just play, what they call, by ear... I just hear that music and I can feel how to play it". She rolled her wheelchair out of the room after that and left me sitting at that table with tears in my eyes because I knew I had just experienced a moment in my life that I would remember for a long time... people who make me laugh always have my attention and then a musical soul on top of that... she had my complete attention and there was even more of a message to come it turned out.

I mentioned in a previous blog post that I am a "digger" I like to know the background on something before I write about it because it makes me feel more adequately suited to write when I feel informed about something. So, I looked up and read all I could about the song In The Garden. I found when I finished reading one particular article, that I was smiling... I got it-- the connection to the song, the lady, the lyrics and me.... there is always a lesson or message and this time, I got it....

I come to the garden alone
While the dew is still on the roses
And the voice I hear falling on my ear
The Son of God discloses.

And He walks with me, and He talks with me,
And He tells me I am His own;
And the joy we share as we tarry there,
None other has ever known.

He speaks, and the sound of His voice,
Is so sweet the birds hush their singing,
And the melody that He gave to me
Within my heart is ringing.

I'd stay in the garden with Him
Though the night around me be falling,
But He bids me go; through the voice of woe
His voice to me is calling.

And He walks with me, and He talks with me,
And He tells me I am His own;
And the joy we share as we tarry there,
None other has ever known.

This hymn was written by C. Austin Miles in 1912. Miles was a pharmacist turned song writer/amateur photographer!!! Yep, photographer!! The story goes that he had a vision of Mary Magdalene while in his dark room waiting on his photographs to develop. He called it a profound spiritual experience. In his vision he was present as Mary visited Jesus' empty tomb on resurrection day. The words to the hymn In The Garden had filled his heart and mind as he came out of the vision... he quickly wrote them down and later composed the music to it. The song became a classic, much loved hymn that is still in most every hymnal printed in America.

Miles wrote this song to take us to that garden with Mary ... to feel that realization that Jesus was risen.

I think the 93 year old lady that I had the pleasure of keeping company with, if only for a few moments, brought me out of my "dark room" where I sometimes go... reminded me of my own "visions" and feelings of what God really wants me to do while I am waiting on certain things to develop. She brought that garden into that room and reminded me that Jesus is risen and he is present and reveals himself in the most unexpected moments. He is there and always reaching out to you and me through experiences, other people and life. It is those sweet moments that bring tears to your eyes when you feel you can almost touch a little bit of what life is really all about.... when you strip away material things and distractions and judgements and just see.... love..... there is Jesus.

Love,

Andrea